After a string of new revelations over the weekend, we can just say what has become obvious to everyone.

October 3, 2016

Want to Fight Back?

Sign up for Take Action Now and get three actions in your inbox every Tuesday.

Thank you for signing up. For more from The Nation, check out our latest issue.

Subscribe now for as little as $2 a month!

Support Progressive Journalism

The Nation is reader supported: Chip in $10 or more to help us continue to write about the issues that matter.

Fight Back!

Sign up for Take Action Now and we’ll send you three meaningful actions you can each week.

Travel With The Nation

Be the first to hear about Nation Travels destinations, and explore the world with kindred spirits.

Sign up for our Wine Club today.

Did you know you can support The Nation by drinking wine?

The revelation that Donald Trump might have avoided 18 years of federal taxes by claiming a stunning $916 million loss in 1995 has knocked his sexist abuse of Alicia Machado, the former Miss Universe, off the front pages. But the hits keep coming when it comes to Trump’s creepy treatment of women. We have got a lot of evidence now that Trump is a sexist pig.

In his Twitter tirade against Machado last week, Trump claimed she appeared in a “sex tape.” She didn’t. In fact, BuzzFeed revealed Friday that only one player in the Trump-Machado battle has appeared in a porn movie—and that’s Trump, not Machado. The 2016 GOP presidential nominee appeared in the 1999 soft-core film, Playboy Video Centerfold 2000, fully clothed and breaking a champagne bottle over a car in the film’s cheesy opening scenes. With that in mind, the Internet quickly dug up a 1990 Associated Press report that Trump pressured second wife Marla Maples to pose nude in Playboy, as part of a bizarre reputation-cleanup scheme. “Donald doesn’t want Marla to look like she’s against Ivana,” public relations aide Chuck Jones said at the time. “Donald wants picture approval. Donald says to emphasize her early years.”

How posing nude in Playboy might make Maples seem more wholesome is unclear. But Trump’s besieged second wife did manage to assert herself and refuse what was said to be a million-dollar Playboy centerfold offer. “Trump himself was on the phone negotiating the fee,” a Playboy editor said. “He wanted her to do the nude layout. She didn’t.” “I’m thankful for my body, but I didn’t want to exploit it,” Maples told the AP reporter. “How would I ever be taken seriously?” (One way might be to release Donald’s 1995 tax documents, which is just a rumor right now, but one I dearly hope is true.)

In July, Jezebel dug up a nugget from journalist Wayne Barrett’s great book, where he reported Trump tried to pressure his staffers to pose for a “Girls of Trump” Playboy spread. Trump “wooed his most shapely staffers, including a former beauty queen secretary, into posing for the magazine with a sliding scale of offers on everything from full nude to breast to ‘wet-lip’ shots,” Barrett reported in 1991. “It was all part of the rakish ethos of phony glamour that he consciously fostered, even to the extent of concealing from public view a very efficient secretary with a pimplish facial condition.”

The Trump campaign denied the allegation, and Playboy editors say they have no memory of the 25-year-ago proposal, his pressure on Maples to do a centerfold spread, plus his own cameo in a Playboy porn video, all in the same time frame, makes the report believable. Trump’s propensity to throw stones from his tacky mansion of glass continues to astound.

“If there was a break in the conversation, he would then look at one of the female cast members, saying ‘you’re looking kind of hot today, I love that dress on you,’ then he would turn to one of the male cast members and say ‘wouldn’t you sleep with her?’ and then everyone would laugh,” a former crew member told the AP. “There would be about 10 or 12 cameras rolling and getting that footage, which is why everybody was like, this guy just doesn’t care.” A contestant on the show, Gene Folkes remembered the same thing: “If you didn’t answer, he would dig in and say, ‘Do you think so and so is attractive? Would you sleep with her? Well, what about if you really had to, would you?’”

The creepiest detail, at least to me: Eight former crew members said Trump made “lewd comments” about a camerawoman while comparing her to his daughter Ivanka. He flirted with a contestant he also said reminded him of his daughter, asking her to twirl around so he could admire her body.

Ready to Fight Back? Sign Up For Take Action Now

While it’s not in the same category of abuse, Trump continued his sexist attacks on Hillary Clinton Saturday night with a bizarre, rambling speech that many observers interpreted as Trump venting anxiety while waiting for The New York Times to publish its tax story. He suggested Clinton might be “crazy,” that she hadn’t been “loyal” to her husband, and physically mocked her for her bout with pneumonia last month. As The Washington Post described it: “Trump flailed his arms and jostled side to side. He then walked unsteadily away from the podium as if he were about to fall over, imitating a video from last month that captured Clinton leaving a 9/11 memorial service early and buckling as she tried to get into her van.”

On the eve of the vice-presidential debate, I hope moderator Elaine Quijano of CBS asks Trump’s conservative Christian running mate Mike Pence how he feels about his partner’s pushing women into porn and sexually harassing them. Maybe more important, though: I hope she asks Pence about his role in rolling back women’s rights while he was in Congress. While Trump controls the women in his life sexually, Pence wants to control all women, politically. Maybe the two have more in common than we thought.

Joan WalshTwitterJoan Walsh, The Nation’s national-affairs correspondent, is the author of What’s the Matter With White People? Finding Our Way in the Next America.

I am really against Trump. But what does Hillary Clinton stand for? She wanted to assassinate Julian Assange with a drone. She does not appreciate freedom of the press. She may decide to kill Joan Walsh if Joan is on the wrong side of Hillary's favorite issue. Hillary is for Cold War with Russia. I am not sure why. What I think, Hillary did not like Russia annexing Crimea when Hillary's Ukrainian revolution succeeded. Hillary's whole reason for having the Ukrainian Revolution was to take away Russia's biggest navy base. Hillary really did not care about Ukrainians but that is the Ukrainian peoples problem. Another good question is it good for the USA to be in a cold war with Russia. I say no because Nuclear war between Russia and USA is death for all of us. The Russians stopped cooperating with USA on Plutonium disposal because of the tone Hillary has started under the Obama administration as SOS. I think that constitutes Hillary's biggest failure to date. Hillary hates Palestinians. She never shows any empathy when children are summarily executed by Israeli soldiers. In Hillary's mind the child made Israel murder them. I am an ardent supporter of Palestinian rights. Hillary wants to stop me from boycotting Israel and definitely does not want me to share my feelings. Hillary again is against freedom of speech. Something very important to me is to have the next POTUS pardon Ed Snowden, Chelsea Manning and Jeffry Sterling. I am pretty sure Hillary would have them executed instead of pardoned. With all my heart I will vote for Jill Stein because Hillary and Trump are two sides of the same coin. They are brutal, murdering psychopaths. I will not dirty my hands voting for a disgusting person like Hillary or Trump.

(5)(22)

Marjorie Wherleysays:

October 5, 2016 at 12:23 pm

Wow, I had no idea that Hillary had the power to stop you from sharing your thoughts. The anti-Clinton rhetoric is getting more and more hysterical. And stating that a vote for 3rd party is a vote for Trump is not oppressing you, it's just pointing out the math. Keep calm and carry on.

(3)(0)

Teresa Blakelysays:

October 4, 2016 at 3:31 pm

What are your sources for these accusations against Hillary?

(16)(3)

Carlos Valdessays:

October 4, 2016 at 8:31 pm

Source for "She wanted to assassinate Julian Assange with a drone." is http://www.torontosun.com/2016/10/03/hillary-clinton-suggested-taking-out-wikileaks-founder-julian-assange-with-drone-report
Teresa Blakely was that what you wanted a source for?

(3)(2)

Warren Adams-ockrassasays:

October 4, 2016 at 4:14 pm

Why, his backside, of course.

(6)(2)

Joshua Krasnoffsays:

October 4, 2016 at 2:33 pm

How much info does the supporters of Trump, as well as the undecided need, to be convinced that he is undeniably unfit ti govern our Nation. Do you need more? Okay, here's more! The Kos news outlet revealed that when Trump appeared on the Howard Stern show in 1987, only weeks before Princess Diana's tragic death, he revealed, I could have nailed her." It was further revealed that Trump had been sending her a room full of roses, and orchids, non-stop. Diana believed that Trump was stalking her, and that he was acting like a creep. Com'on folks, is this the kind of behavior that you would like to see from our president? Wnat more? During the past twelve months, an issue of the New Yorker magazine, has an article on the real estate and casino dealing on the Atlantic City boardwalk. In it, it was revealed that whenever Trump and his wife would visit their casino and hotel, in the mid-eighties, he would instruct his management staff to remove all African American employees from the casino floor, moving them to the back, out of his sight. Why do you think he did that, if not for his ugly bigoted racist attitude toward people of color. Still not covinced? Here's what Trump would call a deal breaker. Trump's former wife Ivana, reported that Donald kelpt Adolph Hitler's speeches, and biographies, on his night stand, and would study them diligently every night. She revealed that he actually adhored Hitler, and his straegies, and warped rethoric, that was responsible for Hitler's rise to power. One was Hitler's "Big Lie." (i.e., series of lies), propaganda campaign, the other was his political end run around the prevailing political parites, which Trump has already accomplished, with his end run around the GOP's decade old political, social, and economic platform, which he is totally contemptuous of, and indiffernet to. What we got here, is an unrepentent authoritarian, bigoted, racist, dictator. A Frankestein monster, fashioned from decades of GOP's contemptuous indifference to the needs of the 99% of us.

(9)(1)

Francis Louis Szotsays:

October 4, 2016 at 1:53 pm

Who knows what the actuarial tables say about an obese, cocaine–snorting, sedentary, fast–food addicted, 70–year–old Buffoon?

MY biggest fear of a possible Trump administration is that we get Mike Pence when Donald goes to his reward.

I’m going Green, so all you people who vote for Mrs. Bill Clinton will be to blame if Trump actually wins!

(6)(28)

Teresa Blakelysays:

October 4, 2016 at 3:32 pm

voting green is a vote for Trump

(18)(7)

Carlos Valdessays:

October 4, 2016 at 9:28 pm

So I must vote like Teresa says or Teresa will not respect me. Teresa don't we get to make our own decisions or do we have to do what you say? In my opinion Hillary and Trump are unacceptable. Just because Hillary conforms societal norms slightly more than Trump doesn't mean she is adequate. Hillary has a problem with droning journalists. She wanted to drone Assange calling him a soft target. Hillary has a problem with following rules of classified secret documents which would put NSA agents in jail if they committed the same acts. Hillary sells the services of SOS to the highest donor to her "foundation". Yes Hillary will meet a normal US citizen too if you donate millions to her foundation according the the AP.
I have heard the stupid argument that a vote for Jill Stein is a vote for Trump. I vote for Jill Stein because she is rational. I vote for Jill Stein because she doesn't want a cold War with Russia. I vote for Jill Stein because she is the best candidate and I agree with her policy positions. Hillary wants to muzzle my concern for Palestinians. Hillary is not progressive when it comes to Honduras, Brazil or Argentina. If she is not progressive for these other human beings then why would she be progressive to her fellow Americans? Hillary has not stated she will cut the military spending but the military spending is what is keeping US from being more progressive. Since Hillary has promised to increase military spending that crowds out all budgets for progressive projects. Hillary has paid lip service to progressives but it is all lies.

(3)(3)

Francis Louis Szotsays:

October 4, 2016 at 5:45 pm

Wow. That never occurred to me.
So, following that "logic", I'm forced to conclude that a vote for the Libertarian is a vote for the Green candidate? Am I getting the hang of this type of electoral "analysis"?

(1)(1)

Francis Louis Szotsays:

October 4, 2016 at 2:19 pm

May as well check what the tables say about a tottering 67–year–old with a neurological condition that can be hidden if she stays on her meds, off the downers, and takes enough naps during busy days.

At least Tim Kaine seems like he can't be any worse, if he were forced to serve.

Go Green.

(2)(23)

Teresa Blakelysays:

October 4, 2016 at 10:15 am

While Trump's misogyny is disgustingly offensive, I worry more about his authoritarianism and the number of followers he has who are not deterred by any of the cruel and outrageously violent things he says including making dog whistle threats for the second amendment folks to attack Hillary. I have been going to Democratic rallies for years. Never before have I experienced political intimidation. When I attended an Elizabeth Warren speaking event in Columbus Ohio, a band of young, rowdy, Trump supporters showed up and got within a few feet of attendees standing in line and began chanting very loudly " lock her up." Trump has said that he can only lose if the election is stolen. Trump is calling for his supporters to monitor polling places. More intimidation. Democratic voters need to give Hillary a strong and convincing margin of victory. If the election is close and Trump refuses to concede we could face a constitutional crisis which would play right into the hands of Trump's fellow demagogue Putin. In this high stakes tight election is is unconscionable for anyone who values their life, freedom and progressive values to risk a Trump presidency either by not voting or by voting for a third party candidate. We must resoundingly defeat this deeply misogynistic, cruel, authoritarian, bully if we are to protect our democracy.

(30)(1)

Carlos Valdessays:

October 4, 2016 at 9:09 pm

I disagree with you about Putin. Putin is an accomplished fellow. He was not born into a rich family like Hillary or Trump. He is quite impressive. He recently translated Ex German Chancellors address to Russians in St Petersburg. He was democratically elected President of Russia and gave up his position when his term limits were reached. So much for the lies Hillary tells. I only wish Putin was a US citizen and running for president because I would vote for him over Hillary or Trump. I would vote for Jill Stein before Putin but that is only because Jill Stein is so much better than Putin.

(2)(3)

Marjorie Wherleysays:

October 5, 2016 at 12:25 pm

And he looks so cute with his shirt off, astride a massive, powerful steed.

(0)(1)

Patrick Mullaghysays:

October 4, 2016 at 5:39 am

I mean, when he's lost Mark Halperin . . . That's sad.

(8)(1)

Walter Pewensays:

October 3, 2016 at 7:24 pm

To me, it's all quite Jungian. Maybe we really are the "chosen" country all these people yammer on about endlessly. After all, after say, the direction the government, popular culture, economic ethics, etc. have taken since Reagan gave license to the low, what else could have happened? With Trump we get the last three decades staring us right in the face-not just the "shadow" side of the United States but most importantly, the side enough were willing to go with back in 1980. As Reagan said "I'm paying for this microphone!"
Now you get to see what many have been investing their energy in all along.

(6)(4)

George Hoffmansays:

October 3, 2016 at 4:35 pm

So Donald Trump is a sexist pig? Well, Joan, that's not exactly headline news but I can understand your disgust for the Trumpster. But having grown up in the fifties and early sixties in a working class family of steelworkers, Trumpster's attitude toward women as merely sexual objects for his bloated ego is just par for the course. That's why he appeals to so many disillusioned men in the working class. But what really bothers me is how about this surreal presidential election cycle is that the debate about the issues has fallen so far into the lower depths that one would have to amend Dante's circles in hell in his classic "Inferno" and add a new circle for narcissistic sociopaths such as the Trumpster. He reminds me the characters that Louis-Ferdinand Celine wrote about in his classic modern black comedy "Journey to the End of the Night." Just when you think that this race can'r sink any lower suddenly it does when the Trumpster opens his mouth. And that doesn't portend well for the body politics, because even though Hillary Clinton will probably squeeze and win this election, the type of declasse voters for the Trumpster will be around, ready and willing, to vote for the next demagogue that come around. That's what really disturbs me.